Man Dog Stroke

Farewell to a dear companion

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

I apologise for the long time between posts on this blog. There has been much happening in our lives and blogging has had to come second to other things. One of these things has been time spent at meetings to do with the Stroke Charter mentioned in an earlier post (Cross Party Groups) – we hope to launch this Charter in the autumn – watch this space (again).

And then, of course, there was the loss of our dear Hamish.

When his ashes were returned to us, the invoice for his cremation bore the inscription “Let us never forget them, but learn from their silent wisdom.” Of course, we will never forget Hamish, but I’m not so sure about the “silent wisdom” bit. There were times when, like all of us – dog and human – he could be far from silent, and far from wise. But one certainty he always offered was unconditional love. Readers of this blog will know that I moved from being “dog sceptic” to “dog besotted” during Hamish’s fourteen happy years. In fact, fourteen years ago, if anyone had told me I would weep for the passing of a dog, I would have told them to get a grip on reality. A friend remarked on this blog that to lose a dog is a bit like losing a quietly eccentric family member. One mark of the eccentric is that you are never quite sure what they will do next. That was certainly true of Hamish and the richness of his character is one reason why it was easy to write regularly on this blog about life from his point of view. His memorable character and gentle nature lie at the heart of why we feel his loss so keenly now.

As I look out on his final resting place beside a beautiful rosa glauca in a sheltered corner of our garden, I am grateful for a faithful friend, who brought love and companionship to our family through times of joy and sorrow.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cross party groups, dogs | Leave a comment

Love and Loss

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Yesterday Hamish left us, peacefully and quietly at the hands of a kind vet. His sudden decline of the last few days had left him with such a poor quality of life that we could not bear to see it any longer.

Like all good dogs, he offered unconditional love. Now his beds lie empty and our home is the quieter for his passing. No long nose pushes open a door to investigate what lies beyond, there is no purposeful trotting through house and garden – just silence and happy memories.

Love and loss, so often intertwined. Those are the emotions we feel today.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged dogs, loss, love, whippet | 16 Comments

Those HEAT targets again

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Followers of this blog will remember I wrote about the apparent reduction in standards for stroke care in Scotland a few weeks ago (If you can’t stand the heat…). I wanted to let you know how I got on when I wrote to my MSP. You can find out by going to this article in yesterday’s Scottish Review.

Meanwhile, this is Action on Stroke Month and the Stroke Association has produced a report on the emotional impact of stroke, Feeling Overwhelmed. If ever there was a case for investing in long-term stroke care, this report underlines it emphatically, yet our Scottish Government – and it is they who control the purse-strings of the NHS in Scotland – just don’t seem to get it. Leave aside for a moment the undoubted physical and psychological benefits for individuals. Long-term care and rehabilitation for stroke survivors really is an investment that can pay dividends in terms of fewer demands on the health service, the benefits system and the social care system. Shortly after leaving hospital, I was told somewhat angrily by a doctor that continuing physiotherapy for stroke survivors “cannot be afforded”. Excuse the double negative, but it cannot not be afforded – if we take a long-term view.

I left hospital in a wheelchair. I paid for first-rate physiotherapy for more than two years. I got mobile again. I returned to work. I paid taxes again. Isn’t that an investment, looked at in terms of hard-headed economics? Shouldn’t that investment be available to all stroke survivors whether or not they can afford physiotherapy?

But there is a wider issue here, and it is about our society’s attitudes to injury and disability. The fact that we can “afford” physiotherapy for someone who breaks a leg on a skiing holiday but cannot “afford” physiotherapy which might improve the quality of life for someone affected by stroke, tells us much about how we choose to spend the health resources we have. Perhaps the priorities our politicians have for our health service simply reflect the values we ourselves have for our fellow citizens afflicted by illness and disease.

In the mean time, let us take practical steps to ensure we have the best possible post-acute care for stroke survivors. Step one: those HEAT targets – let’s make sure that our health service gets serious about ensuring all stroke survivors are admitted to a specialist stroke unit within 24 hours.

If you live in Scotland, will you take the time to ask your MSP the same questions that I did? Who knows – one day your quality of life may depend on it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged scottish parliament, stroke, stroke association | 1 Comment

Step Out for Stroke

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Master has asked me to thank all those who kindly sponsored us both to walk in the Step Out for Stroke event at Glamis Castle today. With your help we raised over £200 for the Stroke Association. It was a lovely sunny day, although there was a strong wind which blew dust into my eyes. As you can see from the picture below, Master got round this problem by posing as a mafia gangster.

There was a good supply of biscuits to keep up my strength – this also helped to distract my mind from the pain of walking on the stones they have laid down outside the castle. Things got better in that department when we got out into the woods. It is always a pleasure for me as an aging whippet to find myself at the centre of adoring pats and rubbings – I can tell you there was plenty of that going on today. Though I’ve never felt purple is my colour, I was proud to wear a Stroke Association t-shirt for the event.

Thank you for your support.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged glamis castle, stroke, stroke association | 1 Comment

Andrew Marr’s return

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Andrew Marr, the BBC journalist, appeared once again for a short time on his programme this morning.

It must have been a huge physical and emotional effort, four months after his major stroke. To many people this will seem a long time, but in terms of stroke recovery four months is a short period. Professional that he is, most of his remarks concentrated on the topic of the day – the legacy of Margaret Thatcher. As one would expect, Andrew Marr spoke intelligently about this. His face and speech have a slight legacy of their own from the stroke and I suspect he felt as I still feel sometimes when speaking in public that my voice is somewhat disembodied, not quite my own. The sort of feeling you can get after a visit to the dentist, when you’ve been given a numbing injection and your face feels not wholly part of you. But as he said, he is lucky to have both mind and voice intact.

He also gave us a brief account of how his stroke happened – a burst of all-out effort on a rowing machine, triggering damage to the carotid artery, leading to a stroke, leading to a life utterly changed. He mentioned a continuing period of demanding, intensive physiotherapy to try to improve his weakened left side: I do not know whether he is getting this through the NHS or an independent provider. In most parts of the UK, he would be very unlikely to receive intensive physiotherapy through the NHS. Like most stroke survivors, he will have to learn to “self-manage” his condition, to use the jargon employed by medical professionals when formal “treatment” comes to an end.

Andrew Marr mentioned physical recovery only, but he has probably already realised that mental and emotional recovery from stroke is just as huge an effort as the physical – and for the “self-management” of that effort he will need all his reserves of courage and determination in an uncharted land.

I wish him well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Andrew Marr, BBC, health, mental-health, stroke | 1 Comment

Back again

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Regular readers of this blog will notice that Master and I have been very silent for a while – this is because Master has been very busy indeed (he says), working and living with no energy left for blogging. It is also because for quite a few days I have not been a well dog. Now much recovered, since you ask.

However, we both now find ourselves with a free moment.

On 5 May, Master and I are going to Glamis Castle to take part in a sponsored walk called “Step Out for Stroke”. That link tells you all about the event. We’d be delighted if you want to come along and join us – it’s a great day out and dogs are welcome. If you can’t do that – and some of you live a very, very long way away – then you might like to sponsor us on our walk – so here is a link to our Just Giving page, where any donation, large or small will be gladly received and put to good use by the Stroke Association.

I am glad to say that since I last wrote about our leaking roof (Four Strange Days), no more water has dripped into our home and all my various beds are dry and warm. Master’s prophesy “We’re doomed, Hamish” has not come to pass. I am still old and a bit shaky, but I managed to break into a short run on my walk this morning.

Best of all, the snow has disappeared and spring is in the air – watch out rabbits!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged glamis castle, stroke, stroke association, whippet | Leave a comment

Deeside Stroke Group

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

The Deeside Stroke Group has now existed for three months.

We meet weekly to exercise in a cold hall in the centre of Aboyne. The NHS provides no ongoing rehabilitation for stroke survivors – you have to manage your own, and pay for it if necessary. This may or may not be a good thing, but it has forced us to act. We are lucky to have an enthusiastic exercise professional, Sue Leftwich, who started up the class some time ago and encourages us weekly to do more, and to do it better. There is a growing body of objective evidence that shows increasing physical activity is of real benefit to stroke survivors – and most of us, stroke survivors or not, benefit from a regular weekly routine of commitment to it. Having our own time and place to exercise with other stroke survivors not only has physical benefits, but builds confidence. We would love to have more and better equipment, but we make do with what is available and make creative use of the chairs, space and wall bars that come with the hall – and a rather old and rather basic exercise bike.

In January we were given a small start-up grant by the Stroke Association and we are now officially a Stroke Association Voluntary Group, benefiting from the Stroke Association’s charitable status. We are going to try and do some fund-raising over the next few months, and Sue has set us all an example by offering to do a sponsored run in the Balmoral 10k race on 28 April. Any funds she raises on the day will benefit the Deeside Stroke Group directly and you can sponsor her on her Just Giving page.

If you enjoy this blog, or would simply like to encourage Sue to complete the distance, I would ask you to donate any amount large or small via the link above. Your support will be much appreciated by all of us and the money put to good use.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged deeside, stroke, stroke association | Leave a comment

Reception desks and other welcomes

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

The word “reception” has a variety of meanings – we talk about a drinks reception; there are reception classes in primary schools; it is a word, above all, suggesting a welcome and, hopefully, the open arms of friendship. I am travelling to Edinburgh for a couple of meetings, one in the Scottish Parliament (see earlier post – Cross Party Groups) and another meeting at the Stroke Association office in Leith.

I drive down from Deeside the evening before and spend the night at a budget hotel in Leith. This hotel has recently been renovated. Amongst the improvements are:

a skip full of rubbish occupying one of the disabled parking places
a “lectern” behind which the receptionist stands rather than the desk behind which he used to sit
an automated check-in which involves typing your name and other details into one of two large touch screens in front of the lectern, making verbal or eye-to-eye contact with the receptionist unnecessary (one of the screens is out of commission)

The staff at reception are unfailingly friendly, despite the building they have to work in. I ask the receptionist if he prefers standing behind a lectern rather than sitting down at a desk. “We have asked for chairs”, he replies. Then I suggest to him that the touch screen might eventually lead to the absence of any human being at all at reception, perhaps even the disappearance of the job of receptionist. “I don’t think so,” he says, adding perceptively and optimistically, “we’ll always need humans.” I think of all the stroke survivors with aphasia to whom this automated reception procedure would present a real challenge. This is a hotel chain whose computer system usually generates a customer feedback questionnaire after each visit. Mentally, I’m already filling mine in, but I wonder how much research or staff feedback has been involved in introducing these “improvements”.

Next morning, I drive through the rush hour traffic to the Scottish Parliament. That sentence does not, of course, do full justice to all the driving activities involved: queuing patiently, stopping and starting at traffic lights, negotiating endless road works, avoiding buses, lorries and construction traffic and so on. Living on Deeside, we rural dwellers are protected from much of this. It is a bright, very cold, sunny morning. I am wearing dark glasses to minimise the sun’s rays, and I have a thick scarf round the lower part of my face. I always carry with me a small leather rucksack containing items for meetings. It is only as I approach the security check-in at the Parliament that the thought crosses my mind that a man with a beard, dark glasses, a scarf round his face and a rucksack on his back may not be what these security guys want to see approaching them at 9 o’clock in the morning. I am stripped of all metal objects, mobile phone etc and given a good frisking, before being allowed to proceed. But the staff are friendly.

Meeting over, I drive back to Leith to the Stroke Association office. Parking is always a problem here, but I squeeze into a small spot between two vans. The office is one of several in a large building not too far away. There are two flights of steps and a revolving door to negotiate before reaching the door of the Stroke Association office. There is disabled access to the rear, but I’ve never bothered with this, though I would have to use that entrance if I was a wheelchair user. Luckily for me, the steps and the door constitute good physiotherapy rather than a barrier. As always, the staff who work here are welcoming and friendly. There is no touch screen and no security check – just a good deal of banter and a sandwich lunch.

After the meeting I drive to Deeside with the sun at my back and revel in the empty roads. I wonder what sort of reception I’ll get at home? A good frisking from a dog in search of a biscuit is guaranteed.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aphasia, cross party groups, deeside, reception, stroke, stroke association | 2 Comments

Four Strange Days

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Four Strange Days

DAY ONE

I can’t believe my ears. Mistress wants a dog that woofs.

It is one of those grey, depressing days. The rain is beating on the windows and here is Mistress talking about getting a new, noisier dog. Okay – I’m old, but I’m not yet in my grave. Some sensitivity, please. A few more walkies in the old dog yet, I think, even in this dreadful rain. But, no, Mistress has definitely said, “I need to get a woofer as soon as possible.”

I listen to the rain, consider her words and lie down in the kitchen bed to think.

We whippets are not big barkers. Most of the time we just quietly go about our business, eating, sleeping and generally looking ornamental in a languid sort of way. But, barking? That’s not something we do much. Woofing? Not at all. Perhaps the odd high pitched yelp if requiring a warm blanket thrown over us; perhaps the occasional attempt at a single macho bark if the doorbell rings. But definitely no woofing. I’ve always felt that Mistress appreciated my generally cool, silent nature. Yet here she is calling for a woofer. I picture in my mind a large hairy dog with sharp fangs and mad eyes, slavering slightly and uttering deep loud barks in a ponderous, threatening way.

At this point Master wanders past, looking even more gloomy than usual. I wonder to myself what he thinks about this sudden request for a loud barker – but as he usually agrees with Mistress, I don’t hold out much hope there. “We’re doomed, Hamish,” he says as he leaves the room.

I cover my eyes and dig deeper into my blanket. Clearly I have failed as a dog.

DAY TWO

The doorbell rings and I try half-heartedly to summon up a deep vicious-sounding “Woof!” What comes out, of course, is a pathetic, whippety cough. Mistress sweeps past me and opens the door to someone called Jim. Jim carries with him all kinds of buckets and poles, one of which he leans against the house. Within a few minutes, and – get this – without Jim having to do what I have to do – i.e. plead and look soulful – Mistress provides him with biscuits and something to drink. She seems really pleased to see him. As it is a sunny day, I stay outside to watch what Jim is up to. And he might drop crumbs.

After he has eaten a biscuit, Jim climbs slowly up one of the poles he has brought with him and begins to take pieces off the roof of our home. After I’ve watched him for a while, I wander back inside for some sleep, wondering to myself what will happen when there is no roof left.

Master is nowhere to be seen. Has he been replaced by Jim? If so, why is Mistress keeping Jim on the roof?

DAY THREE

Not content with lifting pieces off our roof, Jim is now hammering and scraping away up there. He spends the whole day at it, though he occasionally climbs down his pole to eat the biscuits and drink the tea Mistress offers him. When she’s not offering Jim biscuits, Mistress bangs plates on the kitchen table. The sun is still shining, so it doesn’t matter if we don’t have a roof. Master has vanished completely.

I burrow in to my kitchen bed and shut out the world.

DAY FOUR

Now Jim has disappeared.

There is a noise at the front door – and there is Master, large as life. I wag my tail with suitably understated joy and lead him gently towards the tin where I know my bones are kept. As I munch into my bone, I hear Mistress saying to him, “Jim’s an excellent roofer – it should be OK now. You’ve been lucky to be away during all the banging and clattering.”

Suddenly, the truth dawns on me – four days ago, Mistress said “roofer”, not “woofer”. Perhaps I’m not a failure after all. And as for Master – he was away on one of his “trips” as Mistress calls them (Master calls them “work”).

Panic ye not -things are not always what they seem – or how they sound.

As life returns to what passes for normal in our home, I think that’s not a bad lesson for a dog to learn in this life.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bark, dogs, roofer, whippet | 2 Comments

If you can’t stand the heat…

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Eric Sinclair

Acronyms can offend.

HEAT – now there’s an acronym for you. To you and me, “heat” is the warmth of the sun or the output of a radiator or a fire. But HEAT in Scottish Government parlance stands for:

Impressive stuff, huh? But what does it mean in practice?

Each year the Scottish government sets a number of HEAT targets, which inform the clinical and budgetary priorities of all our local health boards. The Scottish government has said for a number of years now that improving heart disease and stroke treatment are among its top priorities, so one of its HEAT targets for health boards in recent years has been as follows:

At least 90% of patients who come to hospital with a stroke should be admitted to the Stroke Unit on the day they come in, or the day after.

Since all the evidence suggests that the sooner patients are admitted to a stroke unit, the better is their outcome, this seems a reasonable and admirable target.

So far so good.

In the latest report on standards in stroke care in our 30 large Scottish hospitals, 15 hospitals met this HEAT target; 14 failed to meet the target and had stayed the same since 2010; 1 failed to meet the target and the service is described as “worse since 2010”. (Scottish Stroke Care Audit, 2012)

Since 50% of our hospitals are failing to meet this target, despite it being a clinical and budgetary priority, you would expect that the government would up the ante in some way or at the very least continue to pressure health boards to achieve this target.

You would expect that, but in fact all the indications are that this very basic HEAT target for stroke patients is set to be dropped from the end of this month, March 2013. In other words – we’ve set a target that will be good for stroke patients, but half our people have failed to meet it, so perhaps we’d better drop it altogether. Too difficult.

Because I have this geekish interest in stroke health matters, I’ve asked my local MSP for his take on this situation.

If you live in Scotland, will you ask yours?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged MSP, nhs, stroke | 1 Comment